What's inside you?
by Callidus-Neuro
Summary: Isuke is forcibly transferred into a boarding school by her parents who want her to become more independent. Haruki is attending on a sports scholarship and wants to get a good education to get a stable job and support her family. By chance, the two girls are put into the same room. Haruki x Isuke.
1. Chapter 1

**Oh wow, I REALLY shouldn't be starting another multi-chapter fic but just... ANR recently finished and the feels just overwhelmed me and possessed me to write this fic. Besides, I simply adore Haruki x Isuke. To be honest, I'm not sure where exactly I'm going with this and I'm not even sure if I'm continuing this but that all depends if there are people who want this to be continued. But hope you enjoy this debut (?) chapter.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own ANR, both the manga or the anime. If I did, I would serve that Yuri tag they put on the show justice. I mean, come on. There was ONE kiss scene and that was because one of them was drowning. Sure, there were lots of hints and implications and subtext but really. **

**Oh and one more thing. You know how Isuke always puts hearts on the end of her sentences? Well, since I can't actually put a heart here, you get this weird little sign as substitution: ɷ Yeah, yeah. It looks really fucked up but it's close enough to me. Don't complain. **

* * *

"Yo! The name's Sagae Haruki. Nice to meet ya."

Isuke's eyes twitched in irritation. She curled her lips into a saccharine smile as she pointedly ignored the outstretched hand in front of her.

"It's Inukai Isuke," she said with the smile still plastered on her face, as she carefully studied the mass of red hair tied into a messy ponytail and the untidy school uniform.

"Nice to meet ya, Inukai Isuke," Haruki corrected with a wide grin, a pocky held between her teeth. She dropped her arm to her side seeing that Isuke was making no moves to shake her hand. Isuke stared at the pocky in disdain. She never did see the appeal in sweets and snacks and she considered them to be poor people's food.

Haruki, who seemed to have noticed Isuke's staring, held out the packet of pocky she was holding in her left hand. "You want some, Isuke-san?" she asked, as she took out another one for herself.

Isuke's smile became strained. "Ah…What should I do? This is pissing me off~", she said in a sweet voice. "Call me Isuke-sama ɷ"

Unlike most people Isuke had talked to before, Haruki didn't cower or flinch at Isuke's blunt comment. If anything, her grin just widened as she lightly shook the packet of pocky. "So? You gonna take one, Isuke-sama?"

Isuke walked past without even sparing the packet a second glance. "No way~ Isuke hates poor people's food," she said with a smile. She ventured further into the room and looked around. Their dorm room was split into three sections: an ensuite bathroom, a section for sleeping and a section for lounging around or studying. The room where Isuke stood had desks at opposite ends of the room, both supplied with an elegant silver lamp and a mini bookshelf placed on top. The rest of the room was spacious with few sofa chairs placed neatly along the wall and a small coffee table in between. In the sleeping section, there were two queen sized beds placed next to each other at the back of the room, the distance between the beds only being around a meter. Next to the beds were small drawers that were just about as tall as the bed. At opposite ends of the section, there were two identical dressing tables, each with a large round mirror hung above and a comfy plush chair placed in front of it. The quality of the room was as expected of a private boarding school, Isuke supposed, although she did prefer her much more lavish room back at home.

She walked to the beds and noticed that the one on the right already had clothes and books strewn messily on top of the soft duvet, presumably belonging to Haruki. As if reading her thoughts, Haruki came into view and plopped herself down on the bed with her legs crossed.

"Sorry for just taking a bed, Isuke-sama but you were taking too long and I couldn't wait any longer," Haurki confessed with a small sheepish grin. She snapped another pocky between her teeth and Isuke's smile dropped at the crunching noise Haruki made while munching on her snack.

"Could you stop that? That noise is really getting on Isuke's nerves~" Isuke said with a small, barely-there curve of her lips.

Haruki quickly finished her mouthful and shook the empty packet. "I finished the packet anyway," she said and with her left hand, threw the object at the bin situated at the opposite end of the room carelessly. Despite the lack of thought put into the throw, the packet sailed through the air in a perfect arc and cleanly landed inside the bin with a 'thump'.

Isuke arched her eyebrow at the display but made no comment. She unpacked her belongings and placed her clothes carefully in the wardrobe provided and added personal touches to her desk and bed. When she was done, she took a quick glance at her roommate and was surprised to find the girl changed into a loose-fitting red hoodie and a pair of black jogging bottoms. She hadn't even noticed Haruki moving about and changing out of her school uniform. The redhead quickly got up from her bed, stretched her legs and her arms before moving towards the door. As she was putting on her trainers, she looked over her shoulder at Isuke.

"I'm goin' out for a jog so you can go ahead and take a shower before me. If I'm late for the roll call, can you tell the dorm leader that I'll be back real soon?" Haruki asked.

Isuke didn't even bother making eye contact with her roommate as she inspected her meticulously manicured nails. "Sure, sure. Don't blame Isuke if you get a penalty for breaking curfew though," she replied offhandedly.

Haruki laughed. "Gotcha," she said as she walked out of the door, slamming it shut behind her. When she was sure that Haruki was well away from their shared room, Isuke looked up from her nails and focused her attention on her roommate's bed. With clothes and book no longer littered about on it, it was the same as Isuke's except without her personal purple pillow made from the softest material one could ever obtain. The duvet was crinkled and the pillow was tilted to the right, with packets of different types of pocky stacked unceremoniously next to it. Just from studying her bed and interacting with the girl for less than five minutes alone, Isuke could already somewhat figure out the general personality of her newly acquired roommate.

Based on the past few minutes, Isuke could see that Haruki was the easy-going and cheerful type; the one who was always outside a conflict, rather than involved in it. The girl probably took any kind of insults in strides, always replying with an easy-going grin. Judging from the state of her bed, Haruki was most likely the kind of person who only cleaned and tidied to bare minimum. Not completely messy and dirty but not particularly clean and spotless either.

_Ah~ she's just the kind of girl Isuke really hates ɷ_

Although Isuke was not hard-working and willing to do chores by any stretch of the imagination, she hated an unclean environment and preferred to sleep in a flawlessly arranged bed. But that didn't mean she rearranged her bed or dusted bookshelves. No, that was the job of the house cleaners. They were being paid so the least they could do was to tidy Isuke's room for her.

But now that she was in a boarding school and technically living alone, she no longer had servants that tended to her every whim. Not to mention that Myojo Academy didn't hire anyone to clean the dorm rooms because it was part the school's rules that students were to clean and look after themselves. They were provided with 3 meals a day with snack bars that were open 24/7 and the facilities needed in the rooms were already there but other than that, they were pretty much left alone. The school reasoned that it was to allow students to start their journey as an adult and start becoming more independent.

_What a stupid rule_. When she became an adult, Isuke would simply hire a house maid of her own so what was the problem? Nothing, as far as she was concerned. Why couldn't have her parents just sent her to a normal private school?

Just then, the phone in her pocket buzzed. She took it out and glanced at the lit up screen. The alert displayed: _1 message from 'Mama'. _ Normally, Isuke would have been happy to receive any kind of contact from her mama as he was a rather busy man and hardly had the time to message her, especially during the weekdays. But now, she simply scowled as she remembered the conversation that took place a week prior.

**-Flashback-**

Isuke walked down the stairs, stretching her arms above her head and letting out a big yawn. It was time for dinner and her hunger had managed to get her crawling out of her comfy bed just in time. Since she had graduated from middle school and the end of academic year holiday had begun, Isuke had practically slept all day and every day in her bed except for the occasional outing with her small number of friends, if she could even call them that since she was pretty sure that they only hung around Isuke because of her money and reputation. After all, Isuke wasn't exactly well known for her sunny and cheerful disposition. She went out on several dates with both men and women but they never went any further than a five minute talk in the local café before her dates ran out crying because of her verbal lashing. Before she knew it, it was already the 2nd of April, a week or so before the first day of high school.

She was pleasantly surprised to find her mama sitting at the table in casual clothes and reading a newspaper as she entered the dining room. Usually, Eisuke was still at work at this time of the day and it would just be Isuke and her papa Aoto at the table.

"Ara~ mama, you're home early today," Isuke said with a smile but unlike her usual rather cynical smile, this one was filled genuine joy at the prospect of spending time with her mama. "Is Isuke in trouble?" she asked light-heartedly as she pulled out her chair and sat down.

Eisuke put down the papers to direct his daughter a small smirk. "Can't I eat dinner with my husband and my daughter without an ulterior motive?" he said in his silky smooth voice.

"It's good to always have at least a little suspicion," came Aoto papa's voice as he walked in carrying several plates of homemade dishes. "Besides, I don't blame Isuke. You're hardly ever home around her these days."

"What is this? Teaming up together to bully me?" Eisuke asked humorously as he pretended to wince.

Aoto chuckled and pecked Eisuke on the cheek in a gesture of affection before taking a seat next to him. Isuke, who was used to the displays of affection her parents would show each other constantly, didn't even bat an eyelid at it. Instead, she focused on the dishes her papa had brought in.

"Did you make this yourself, papa?" Isuke asked as she started digging into her food.

"I did," Aoto confirmed, "why, do you not like it?"

Isuke shook her head. "No way~ Papa's food is always delicious, you should know that by now." No, the taste of the food was not the problem here. "We always have chefs prepare our meals unless it's a special occasion." Slowly, she looked back and forth at her mama and papa. First, Eisuke was home early which rarely happened and now Aoto was making the dishes himself. Something odd was definitely going on.

Isuke plastered on a smile. "Just tell me what this is about~ Do you think Isuke's so dumb that she wouldn't notice the weird behaviour? ɷ"

"Well if you put it that way…" Aoto started with a nervous laugh. He not so discreetly nudged Eisuke to take over the talk.

With an amused smile, Eisuke put down his knife and fork and looked Isuke in the eyes. "You know how high school's almost about to begin?" he asked, his tone betraying nothing.

Isuke narrowed her eyes in suspicion. She had no idea where this conversation was going. "Yes? What about it?"

"Well we decided that instead of continuing at your current school, you'll be transferring to another school not too far away from here. It's a private school called Myojo Academy, you might have heard of it," Eisuke informed.

Isuke's mind immediately flashed to an image of the said school: massive, imposing and impossible to miss. She smiled. "Oh is that all? I thought it was a bigger issue. If it's changing schools, Isuke doesn't care~ It's the same wherever I go anyway. They only approach me because of the money," she said nonchalantly as she continued to eat her dinner. It was then that a sudden piece of information popped to her mind and she realised what the big deal was.

Isuke stopped eating altogether. "Wait, isn't Myojo Academy a boarding school?"

Aoto laughed nervously. "Um…yeah, about that…"

"That's right. We decided that it's time you became more independent, Isuke," Eisuke continued smoothly.

Isuke rolled her eyes. "I can be independent at home," she said.

"Honey, I don't think we have the same definition of being independent," Aoto ventured, but immediately stopped when Isuke sent him her infamous 'shut up' smile. So instead of continuing, he kicked Eisuke's foot beneath the table for help.

Taking pity on his husband, Eisuke suppressed the amused smile threatening to take over his face and instead levelled his daughter with a semi-stern face, which is something he rarely did. "Isuke, this isn't a matter of discussion. We've already filled in the official papers and paid the fees and your belongings will be packed on Sunday evening for us to take you to Myojo Academy."

Isuke deflated at her mama's tone of voice. When he used his 'semi-stern' tone, she knew that he was serious and that there was no way to persuade him otherwise.

"Don't be like that. Who knows? You might even find your soul mate there," Aoto joked earning another eye roll from his daughter.

"Isuke's not interested in finding her soul mate~"

Aoto shrugged. "Well, either way, I'm sure it'll be a good experience for you Isuke. Right Eisuke?" he said, asking his husband for support.

This time, Eisuke didn't even bother hiding his obvious amusement. "Indeed."

The rest of dinner was eaten in silence.

**-End of flashback-**

Isuke unlocked her phone and clicked on the alert, opening up the message. In elegant black font, the message read:

_How are you doing at school Isuke?_

Isuke rolled her eyes. Mama obviously knew her dislike of transferring to Myojo Academy so she didn't see why he was even asking. She tapped the reply box and began to type.

_I hate it already~_

She sent the message and waited for few minutes. When no reply came, she assumed that her mama was once again pulled into an urgent meeting. She dropped her phone onto her bed. She fell back onto her bed and closed her eyes. Since she had nothing else to do, she might as well catch up on some sleep she had lost earlier in the day.

000

By the time Haruki returned from her jog, it was nearly nine in the evening and she had entered her dorm room just in time before the curfew. What had started out as a light jogging course around the park had turned into a full out marathon around the area and Haruki ended up spending a solid amount of few hours mentally mapping out the area and taking notes of quite places to spend her free time as well as planning potential jogging routes for future reference. She had hardly even noticed how it was starting to become dark at first, so immersed in her exercise.

"I'm back," she called out simply out of habit. It was not really for anyone to hear and acknowledge her so it was said rather quietly. The room, she noticed, was mostly dark with only the city lights on the other side of the windows lighting up the room. The next thing she noticed was how quiet everything was. She quickly took off her shoes and as silently as possible, padded into their sleeping quarters. She quickly glanced at the bed on the left hand side and grinned when she saw the peacefully sleeping form of her roommate. Isuke was an extremely silent sleeper and the only thing that told Haruki the girl was even alive was the steady rise and fall of her chest. Isuke's face was peaceful and very gentle, and looked beautiful illuminated by the light casted through the window. It was almost angelic, really.

Haruki had to supress an amused chuckle at that particular thought. Although there was no denying that her roommate was attractive aesthetically, her personality was anything but. Not that Haruki particularly minded since she actually found Isuke's comments rather entertaining but it still remained that the girl's attitude had a lot to be desired.

But looking at Isuke's peacefully sleeping face, Haruki found it hard to see the patronizing and impossibly blunt girl from earlier. In fact, she actually found her roommate's expression kind of cute.

She quietly treaded back to her bed and took off her hoodie and jogging bottom and exchanged it for a loose fitting shirt along with a pair of loose, comfy shorts before climbing into her bed and under her duvet. Normally, she would have a quick shower straight after a workout session but it as it stood, she just couldn't be asked. She had had a tiring day and her really _really soft _bed just seemed like the much better option. She would postpone the shower to the next morning.

Before she closed her eyes and fell asleep, Haruki's mind quickly ran over the day's events.

She had moved into Myojo Academy's dorm, walked around the campus for a while, met her roommate who she would be staying with for at least a year and jogged around the town. All in all, it had been a hectic day. Haruki smiled when she thought of the excitement her following day would bring. She would be meeting her classmates for the first time and sit in a classroom wearing uniform for the first time and have a teacher for the first time. She would have friends around her age for the first time.

She hoped that she would become good friends with Isuke. Haruki found found her to be really interesting and besides, Isuke was the first girl that was her age that she had properly talked to as an equal.

With that final thought, Haruki closed her eyes tiredly and welcomed sleep.

* * *

**So what do you think? Should I continue? BTW, in case you haven't caught on yet, this is a normal high school AU, of course with its own twist. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, so after some consideration, I decided to continue this fic. Be warned that updates may not be frequent but I'll try my best whenever inspiration strikes. I have a feeling that the romance between Haruki and Isuke is going to take some time. Anyway, enjoy this chapter. **

**Also, remember what I said about this sign: ɷ **

* * *

"Hello everyone! My name is Mizorogi Ataru and I've been teaching biology at Myojo Academy for three years. I'll be the home room teacher for the Black class this year and since this is my first time being a home room teacher, I'm eager to help you guys out with anything! Think of me as your older brother," Mizorogi passionately stated.

Isuke smiled sweetly and spoke up in a honey-like voice. "Ah~ What should I do? It's not even five minutes into the first day of school and I'm already getting pissed. ɷ"

The blonde girl sitting on the next desk turned to face Isuke with an overly cheerful and mischievous smile. "Mah, mah, don't be like that~" she said in a sing-song voice. Then, addressing the rest of the class, she announced, "Seat number 10, Harishi Nio. Nice to meet you!" Nio grinned and made a peace sign.

Meanwhile, Mizorogi, who had been watching the exchange laughed nervously. "Don't fight over sensei. But it's good to start the introductions. We can start from seat number one and go down the order of the register. First up is Azuma-san."

At this, Isuke looked up in surprise. There was only one Azuma that she knew was rich enough to send their daughter to a private school. The Azuma name carried great weight, especially around these areas. The Azumas were well known for their long line of dojos and their secret martial arts techniques passed down from generations to generations. To put it simply, it was best to stay on their good side since they had qualified lawyers in the higher ranks with enough authorities to pull some strings if an 'accident' was to occur. At least, that's what Isuke remembered being told by her mama. She hadn't been paying too much attention at the time to remember all the details but she knew enough to turn around in her seat to inspect the Azuma girl.

The girl was not too tall but carried a somewhat intimidating presence around with her, not that Isuke was intimidated in the least. She had short, boyish dark blue hair and steely blue eyes that were set into an unflinching stare that coldly exanimated the girls occupying the classroom, as if they were all potential opponents in a match.

_What a brute~ɷ _ Isuke thought disdainfully.

Finally, Azuma stood up. "My name is Azuma Tokaku, seat number one. And before any of you try and talk to me, you are not to call me Tokaku since we are nowhere near close enough for that. It's either Azuma or Azuma-san," Tokaku informed in a clipped tone. After that brief introduction, she sat down and crossed her arms in a defensive posture, continuing her inspection of the class silently from the very back seat.

"Um… it's nice to have you Azuma-san. Alright, who's next?" Mizorogi cut through the tense silence that followed.

Isuke stood up and with one hand on her hip and the other twirling her pink curls, she smiled a sickeningly sweet smile at the class. "Seat number two Inukai Isuke. The only things Isuke cares about are myself and money. Everything else is meaningless to me," she said and she sat down. Of course in her head, she added 'and mama and papa' at the end of her first sentence but the rest of the class didn't need to know that fact.

Next, an impeccably dressed dark haired girl stood up. She adjusted her glasses and straightened her back. Her facial expression was stern and strict. "My name is Kaminaga Kouko and I am here on an academic scholarship. Also, I will be taking on all of the leadership roles such as dorm leader and class representative so if anyone has any complaints, please state those now as this will be your only chance."

Nobody voiced any objections and seemingly satisfied with the response, Kouko sat down after a brief bow. The girl was obviously not rich enough to attend Myojo Academy through money, Isuke observed but she didn't seem too poor either. Unlike her roommate Haruki, her mind added. Speaking of which, it was now Haruki's turn to introduce herself since Isuke had zoned out during seat number five's introduction. Although taking one look at the dirty blonde girl, Isuke was glad that she did. She doubted the girl had anything interesting to say.

"Yo, it's nice to meet you guys. I'm Sagae Haruki and I'm here on a sports scholarship. My dedication lies within basketball but I enjoy all kinds of exercise. If any of you guys need help with anything, I'd be more than willing to lend a hand." A pause. "Well, as long as I've got time," Haruki finished, sitting down with a small laugh. Isuke rolled her eyes at her roommate's behaviour. Haruki was turning out to be exactly as Isuke had imagined. Easy-going, nice and self-sacrificing.

_Nobody better be knocking on our door to ask for a favour, _Isuke thought irritably. After Haruki had practically advertised herself as a free-of-charge handyman, she had no doubt that people would come knocking at their shared room's door, asking for the redhead's help.

The rest of the introductions seemed to last an eternity. Other than the Hanabusa Sumireko girl who Isuke had known already due to how famous the family was, Isuke hadn't really bothered to look at or listen to any of the other girls in her class. After all, what was the point of learning the names of people she didn't care about? At least Myojo Academy had relatively small number of students in each class otherwise they'd be all sitting there and introducing themselves for the rest of their lives.

After introductions came the usual admin routine at the start of each academic year. They received their text books, timetables, exercise books, a homework diary, a basic rule book as well as a map of the entire school campus which required an A3 sheet of paper to fit everything in. The labels on the map were in such a small font that Isuke had to bring the paper right up to her face and squint really hard in order to make out vague shapes of the letters. After several attempts to read the words and failing rather miserably, Isuke tossed the map away with an irritated huff. She would find her way around without the help of the stupid map.

"Okay, girls," Mizorogi called out from his desk. "We'll know start our first lesson of the year, which coincidentally, is biology. Take out your biology text book and turn to page 31. We'll start off with revising the basic topics you've come across in middle school…"

At this point, Isuke switched off her brain and zoned her teacher out. She had never cared about the structures of the body and the organelles in middle school and she wasn't about to start in high school. Glancing at the clock at the back of the class, she huffed in annoyance at how slowly the minute hand seemed to move. And to think that she had at least three more years of this silent torture.

000

The first thing Isuke saw when she woke up from her sleep was Haruki's wide grin and her amused pair of amber eyes.

"What?" Isuke snapped. Well, that was what she had intended it to sound like but it came out more as a sleepy stutter. She hated the way Haurki's smile impossibly widened.

"Mornin' Isuke-sama. Although, it'd be accurate to say 'Noon' but I didn't think it had the same effect," Haruki said with a small chuckle, as if amused at her own joke.

Despite her roommate's annoying smile and her irritating tone of voice, Isuke startled at this information. She looked back at the clock and saw that it was indeed slightly past noon. It was then that she also noticed the classroom was empty except for the two of them.

"You slept right through break and third period and although I didn't want to disturb your sleep, I thought you wouldn't appreciate missing lunch," Haurki explained.

If Isuke had been a normal, pleasant person, she would have felt immensely touched and have said a gratified 'thank you' but because she wasn't any of the above, she instead opted for her usual blunt insults.

"And you decided to wake me up by staring at Isuke's face? Are you some kind of stalker? ɷ"

Haruki shrugged, the insult flying right over her head. "I tried poking you but you just kind of made these noises and turned your head. I was going to lightly shake you but you woke up, so..." she trailed off, vaguely gesturing towards nothing in particular.

Isuke tried to ignore Haruki's comment about her making noises in her sleep. She felt her cheeks starting to heat up so she quickly stood and began heading for the door in order to hide her embarrassment. "Whatever you say. I'm going to the canteen to eat lunch," Isuke announced to cover her sudden exit.

"Oh, in that case, I'm gonna tag along. I'm starving," Haruki said as she jogged to catch up with Isuke, who was speed walking down the corridor. Once the redhead had caught up with the pink haired girl, they soon fell into a steady pace; their steps synchronizing.

"So, Isuke-sama," Haurki spoke up. "you gonna join any clubs?"

"Of course not. Isuke has better things to do than join a club. Besides, Isuke hates annoyingly cheerful people and clubs will be full of them," Isuke answered with her usual smile.

Haruki grinned and Isuke was reminded of the fact that the redhead was also one of those 'annoyingly cheerful people' that she hated. She tried to feel annoyed but it felt nowhere near genuine. For some odd reason, Haruki seemed to be an exception to Isuke's rule and _that _pissed Isuke off because she didn't have exceptions, ever.

Haruki was oblivious to Isuke's inner thoughts. She smirked at the pink haired girl. "Too busy doing what, Isuke-sama? Sleeping?"

"Shut up idiot or I'll kill you~ ɷ"

Once again, Isuke's comment did not affect Haruki in the slightest. The redhead chuckled. "Sorry, sorry. What are you gonna eat for lunch?"

"Only the best of course," was her immediate reply.

They soon arrived at the canteen and found that most of the students were already sitting down and having their lunch. The canteen was extremely spacious, almost rivalling the size of a professional upper-class restaurant and had white, pristine walls and carpeted floor. At the end of the room were the food stands where there was a variety of food which students were allowed to choose from, almost like a buffet. At the side was a decent sized bar for things such as drinks and snacks. On the walls were several flat screen televisions for anyone who wanted to watch the school broadcasts.

Next to her, Haruki sucked in a sharp breath. "Oh my god, this school is so awesome!" she exclaimed in clear excitement. Even Isuke could admit that this was impressive for being a school canteen. Haruki rushed inside without further delay and made a beeline for the food stands. She grabbed a tray and started loading every plate she came across until there was no more room. Usually, Isuke would sneer at the lack of etiquette but strangely, she found herself feeling mildly amused at her roommate's antics.

In the speed of light, Haruki had sat down at an empty table and waved at Isuke. "Yo! Isuke-sama! Hurry up and grab some food before they disappear!"

Isuke rolled her eyes because she knew that there was no way that the food was going to run out. From what she had seen so far, Myojo Academy was anything but inefficient. Despite this knowledge however, she decided to indulge her roommate and selected her food before sitting down opposite the girl. They began to eat at the same time although Haruki was going through hers at a much faster pace.

"Mmm…this is sooo good," Haruki said as she continued to dig into her plate of sashimi. "I've always wanted to try these."

At this, Isuke raised her eyebrow. "Have you never tried sashimi before?" And she wondered just how poor Haruki was.

Haruki shrugged. "Nope. I have nine siblings and since we only have our mum working to provide for us, we don't really get the luxury to buy expensive food like these. Oh man, I'm so glad I took the scholarship to this school."

"Nine siblings?" Isuke asked, surprised. Although she knew that some people had much more kids, it was still hard to imagine what it would be like.

"Yup. I'm the oldest out of us. What about you Isuke-sama? Do you have any siblings?"

"Of course not~ I would hate that ɷ. Isuke only has mama and papa and I don't need anyone else," she replied honestly. She had never even considered the idea of having a sibling before and she never will. She was content with just living with her mama and papa in their house.

"That's cool," Haruki said distractedly. After a moment of pause, she once again spoke up. "Hey, y'know, I've always wondered but isn't Isuke a guy's name?"

Isuke smiled a tight lipped smile. "So is your name. And there's nothing wrong with Isuke's name. It's the name mama gave to me when he adopted me."

Haruki looked up, catching the odd pronoun. "'He'?" she asked curiously.

"That's right. Mama is a guy and so is papa. They didn't give birth to me but water runs thicker than blood anyway."

"I think the proper saying is 'blood runs thicker than water' but I suppose in your situation, it would make more sense for you to put it that way," Haruki said with a small smile.

"Let's stop talking about this~ It's starting to annoy Isuke ɷ."

Haruki shrugged and dropped the subject, moving onto talk about hobbies and interests. They stayed sitting and talking throughout the entire lunch break and Isuke was surprised that she hadn't felt bored even once during their exchange. Usually, chatting with the same person for an extended period of time tended to either piss her off or make her drop with boredom. But with Haruki, it was neither. In fact, she actually kind of _enjoyed _her roommate's company for some unfathomable reason.

Isuke huffed in irritation. The heat was probably getting to her head. There was no way she would enjoy talking to someone so different from her. While she was full of insults and cruel humour, Haruki was full of cheer and laughed at every single thing.

A shower would do her some good, Isuke decided. Or maybe some more sleep. Maybe both.

000

"Alright everyone, listen up! We have eight more freshman members this year. Make sure to show them the ropes and set a good example!" the coach shouted. Hirose Shuichi was an imposing man with wide shoulders, hard muscles and stern facial expression with sharp green eyes that contrasted with his dark hair. His booming deep voice reverberated in the gym and made each student freeze and listen with rapt attention. Haruki felt like she was an animal on display in a cage as the older members of the basketball club scrutinized her and the other seven new members with keen eyes. She watched as a tall blonde girl came to stand next to coach Hirose.

"So these are the new recruits huh? Coach, you sure know how to pick 'em," the girl said.

"Get back to practice, Hishida," the coach warned with a stern tone. The girl laughed merrily and turned to face the silently standing first years, ignoring the coach. Despite her blatantly disobeying his order, the coach didn't seem too angry about it. Haruki figured that the girl must be a valuable member if even the stern looking Coach was willing to go easy on her.

"Whassup. My name is Hishida Arisu and I'm the captain of the senior team. I like to have fun while playing basketball but I'm pretty strict when it comes to drills and practices. I hope you're all ready for some tight training schedule," Arisu said with a charming smile. "Why don't you all introduce yourself since I'll be seeing you a lot from now on?"

When no one spoke up for the first ten seconds that followed, Haruki decided that, eh, she might as well go first lest they stand there in awkward silent for the next hour or two. "Yo, I'm Sagae Haruki. I also like having fun with basketball as well as any other form of exercise," she said. Then after a slight pause, she added, "…but mostly basketball."

Arisu laughed. "I think I like you, Sagae Haruki. Welcome aboard. Who's next?"

The girl next to Haruki reluctantly spoke up and this continued until all eight of them had stated their name and another piece of basic information about themselves.

"I'm sure you'll all becomes aces with few practice sessions with me," Arisu said to them with a laugh. Haruki could tell that the senior was only joking and was not actually being arrogant. When the ice had broken a little between the group, Arisu made her way back to the team and continued practice. When Arisu was finally back to her original place, coach Hirose turned to the new recruits.

"Alright, now that introductions are over, grab a ball and start dribbling. I'll be watching you closely so make sure to display all your skills. Start from the end line on my left and dribble towards the opposite side. Once you reach the three-point line, I want you to have a go at shooting and I don't care how you choose to do it; it can be a set shot, a layup, a jump shot or even a dunk. You will repeat this until I tell you to stop. Now get to it!" the coach barked out. The girls simultaneously gave a shout of affirmation and jogged towards the metal rack where the basketballs were placed. Since the basketball teams were valued by the Academy as they brought the school great publicity as well as sponsors, the school board members put in a great amount of effort to provide them with the best facilities they could. They even had their own private building on the school campus where they were provided with six sets of basketball courts, three changing rooms for each year group, a wonderful shower room and a large storage room for any equipment. When she had first found out that they had their own building, Haruki had dropped her jaw in shock and she had kept it dropped as she toured around the building.

She grabbed a ball off the middle rack and jogged to the end line, bouncing the ball a few times to get used to the feel of it and adjusting the amount of strength she put into each bounce in order to have better ball control.

Just as she joined the back of the line, coach Hirose called out her name. "Sagae!"

Haruki looked up at the man with a puzzled expression. "Yes, coach?"

"Come here for a second," he ordered. Haruki immediately jogged to his side and craned her neck to get a better view of his face.

"Whassup?" she asked casually.

Coach Hirose levelled her with a stern gaze. "There are a few things I wanted to talk to you about. You may have been recruited personally by the chairwoman but don't expect any special treatments just because of that fact. I don't care how you got into Myojo Academy. I will judge you the same way I will judge the others; I will judge you based on your skill in basketball and your sportsmanship as well as how well you work in a team. That's all I wanted to say," he finished.

Haruki laughed. "Don't worry, coach. I never expected any special treatment from you and even if you did treat me differently, I would have told you to stop. I want to be on the team because of my skill and hard work, not because I happened to be in the right place at the right time. That wouldn't be fair on the others. If that's all, can I go back and join the line?"

The coach's stern expression softened slightly as he nodded. Haruki playfully saluted the coach with a grin and jogged back to the back of the line. She had a feeling that her time at Myojo Academy was going to be nothing short of exciting.

* * *

**See you at chapter 3! **


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